It is common among vehicles, and in particular motorcycles, to access the wheels and components related to wheel rotation for maintenance and cleaning. With regard to cleaning a wheel in contact with the ground, portions of the wheel and wheel components are often positioned behind the frame and other parts of the vehicle, making access to the entire wheel difficult without moving the vehicle. Thus, in order to easily access the entire wheel, it is necessary to move the vehicle forward in small intervals to access different portions of the wheel. This process is disadvantageous in that it is time consuming, requires a large working area, and requires that tools and cleaning supplies be moved along with the vehicle.
With regard to servicing a wheel and wheel rotation related components, such as a vehicle drive chain, it is often necessary to place the vehicle on a stationary frame stand so that the wheel can be rotated without moving the vehicle. Conventional frame stands are disadvantageous in that they are typically large and cannot be carried with the vehicle, and it is often difficult for one person to load the vehicle onto the stand due to the weight of the vehicle and height of the stand. To overcome the disadvantages of stationary frame stands, ramped wheel stands have been developed that include a ramp for facilitating loading onto rollers that permit wheel rotation. While advantageous in that the vehicle can be rolled onto the stand as opposed to lifted, ramped stands are disadvantageous in that the loading ramp tends to transfer the initial force from the loading wheel horizontally, causing the stand to slide forward in the direction away from the loading wheel. Thus, loading onto a ramped stand requires either a partial lifting force during loading or a relatively fast loading motion to overcome the horizontal portion of the loading force and apply a great enough downward force on the stand to prevent stand movement.
Accordingly, to overcome the disadvantages of prior art frame and ramped stands, an apparatus is provided herein that prevents movement of the stand during loading and allows vehicle wheel and other components related to the rotation of the wheel to be serviced and/or cleaned while keeping the vehicle stationary. The apparatus is advantageous in that it can be readily utilized by one person, is compact and thus can be carried on the vehicle, is rugged to withstand long term use, and includes a loading step that directs the initial force from the loading wheel in a downward direction to stabilize the apparatus on its supporting surface and prevent it from sliding forward during loading.